Toy Soldier
by the Iron Jarvis
Summary: After being sent on a mission to retrieve a very secret (but unimportant) stolen item, Steve wanders upon a 15 year old boy who's been injured and broken beyond repair. The kid goes by the name Bucky, and he doesn't like anyone. The only people able to be near him are Steve and Peggy, and when Peggy leaves, Steve is stuck trying to train the teenager into a soldier.


Steve threw his shield, knocking down two more agents of Hydra. The shield came back to him and he caught it on his arm. He looked around, inspecting the place and making sure there was no extra agents left trying sneak up on him.

After making sure the coast was clear, he started to continue onward. It was eerily quiet and there seemed to be no one around. A whimper echoed through the room and Steve whipped around, spotting something moving behind a large box. Trotting over to the box and shoving it away, Steve looked down on a young boy.

The boy's eyes went wide in fear and he awkwardly dragged himself backwards when Steve reached out to him.

"NEIN!" The boy cried out, backing away from Steve's hand. The boy looked to be about 15, but he was small compared to Steve's large frame.

"I'm not going to hurt you," Steve said gently. Anger flashed for a moment in Steve's blue eyes. This boy was too young to be serving in a war this big. Or in any war at all. The Germans must have been pushing anyone they deemed manly enough into the war. "It's okay, you're safe now." Steve said, kneeling.

The boy swiped at Steve's hand when Steve reached out to him.  
"Weg von mir!"the boy cried out in German, trying to drag himself away from Steve. By the way he moved, Steve could tell that his left arm was injured and most likely broken, because arms weren't supposed to twist like that, and that one or both if his legs were injured.

"Do you speak English?" Steve asked. Steve thought for a moment, thinking up of how to phrase his words. "Um...Hallo?" The boy's fist connected with Steve's jaw and Steve stiffened. That actually hurt. He tried again, remembering the small amount German that he learned while being stationed in this country. "Beruhige dich, ich werde dich nicht verletzen." He tried to get the boy to calm down.

"Get away from me! I'll kill you!" The boy hissed.

"You do speak English!" Steve said. He picked up the boy bridal style and the boy whimpered again, dropping his fierce cover.

"Please! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! Please no! Please don't do it!" The young teenager started to plead, tears coming to his eyes.

"Hey, hey. It's okay, I'm not gonna hurt you." Steve said, cradling the injured teenager in his arms, he got up and made his way back to the U.S. Base, his shield covering up most of the boy's frail body.

Even though both if them knew he couldn't get away, the kid still struggled in Steve's arms; out of fear. Steve said nothing as he marched into the camp, heading straight for the medical tent.

Steve explained that he found the boy and that he couldn't just leave him to die. He'd set the boy down on the cot and the boy out up quite a fight. Anytime someone got near him, he hissed and swung his fists. He did not wanna be touched by anyone. Not even Steve. Anytime Steve got near him, he'd punch him hard in the face.

The only person that was unharmed when close to him was Peggy. He clung to Peggy like she was his lifeline. He didn't like to be around anyone without Peggy in front of him, serving as his shield to the world.

Steve observed the way he clung to Peggy's side and swung out at anyone who got too close to him. He didn't feel safe around any other person. Steve thought about it for a moment before it clicked. The kid didn't feel safe around any /man/. Peggy was the only woman on base and he stuck by her side, 24/7. Steve's heart broke slightly. The boy was afraid of men, which means we was probably abused. That made sense why he'd cried and begged Steve not to 'do it again'.

Steve winced. The poor boy had something done to him that made him not trust almost anyone who got near him.

"His name is Bucky." Peggy stated.

"Bucky? Really?" Steve said.

"Its not his real name. But he won't tell me what his real name is. He only says to call him Bucky. "

"He talks?" Steve said. Steve had only heard him speak once, when he'd carried him back. The rest of the time, he was using his voice to scream at anyone who got too close for comfort.

The boy began to breathe heavily, almost seething.

"Bucky?" Steve looked to the boy who had his arms round Peggy's waist and his face pressed into the back if her shoulder. "Are you alright?"

"Fuck off!" Bucky growls "Don't talk to me!"

"Bucky," Peggy says calmly. "Steve is a friend. He's the one that saved you." He's now at her side, leaning into her as she runs her hands through his rough, dirty hair. "Steve is our friend."

"Mein friend?" The boy asks, looking up at Peggy. She nods at him and Bucky looks at Steve for a long moment. "Nein." He says with a shake of his head, deciding that if he didn't want to classify Steve as a friend, then he wasn't going to.

Steve places a hand on Bucky's shoulder, and this time, Bucky didn't swing his fists or punch Steve in the face, he just let Steve be. A small smile places itself on Steve's face as he rubs small circles on Bucky's back. His smile grows wider when Peggy is able to step away from the young teen and instead of clinging to her, he leans into Steve's touch.

That's a big accomplishment because all the three weeks that he's been traveling with the military squad/group, he's not shown any kind of trust to anyone but Peggy.

It's late in the night, about a week later, when Bucky's finally asleep in a cot all "comfy", that Steve and Peggy talk.

"I leave in a few days, and I can't take him with me." Peggy says.

"But he doesn't trust anyone but you!" Steve says. "I'm sure you can arrange something?"

Peggy shakes her head. "He's quite dependent on me. He needs someone to teach him to be independent. And how to be a man. You're the perfect person to teach him. He trusts you."

"He kicked me in the crotch."

"You made him feel threatened. Maybe if you wouldn't have smacked him, he wouldn't have kicked you." Peggy said with a smirk.

"With the foul things he was saying, he deserved more than a smack!"

There's a slight shriek from the other side of the room as Bucky bolts upright in the small cot, clutching his left arm and grimacing in pain. He'd shifted rapidly in his sleep and accidentally laid on his broken arm. He had a cast over it, but it was carved out of wood and didn't do a good job of protecting his arm.

He frowns and looks over to Steve and Peggy. He glares at them as if it's their fault before laying back down and curling up under the thin sheets.

He rolls around trying to get comfortable for the longest before just sitting up and sighing. He looks back to Steve and Peggy with discomfort written all over his face.

"I can't sleep." He groaned, and it's the first time Steve heard him speak like a civilized human being.

A cool breeze passes through and Steve and Peggy shiver just a bit. They both turned to Bucky, who's whole body is shaking and his teeth are chattering.

Steve takes his coat and throws it to Bucky, who gladly accepts it and slips his frail body into it, sticking his right arm in the sleeve and leaving his left arm curled up against his chest. It warms him up and he curls back up in the cot, drifting off into his interrupted sleep.

Once they make sure he's fallen asleep again, they resume their earlier conversation. After a while, Steve asked Peggy the one question that had been eating his brain with a fork and knife.

"Why doesn't he like people?"

"…" Peggy is silent. After a few moments, she sighs. "I guess someone other than me should know... He was forced into war along with many other boys around his age. He was the youngest in his group...they found him the weakest and most venerable...he told me himself some of the terrible things that happened to him. He was never put on the front, instead he was kept behind, where some of the guys did…things to him."

Steve frowned and looked over to the sleeping boy. Peggy didn't have to explain for Steve to get the idea. "Such sick bastards." Steve spits. "There's a special place in hell for anyone who does those things to a child." Steve rubs over his face, trying to calm himself. "Poor kid."

"I don't want your pity." comes the small voice from the other side of the tent.

When Peggy leaves, Bucky is quite devastated. But he clung to Steve's side like he used to Peggy's. It felt strange to Steve.

Peggy had been right, Bucky was very dependent, and he was not even half a man. Steve hated to admit it but sometimes Bucky was a straight up wimp and Steve wanted to slap him across the face and tell him to 'man up'. But that's not a very Steve-like thing to do, so instead he just facepalms.

Bucky knew how to handle a gun, what was for sure. And he had perfect aim...when he was paying attention. Which was only 5% of the time.

"Bucky…Bucky...BUCKY!"

Bucky finally looked up at Steve. The snow was knee high and it sent chills through his body. His thin red pants did nothing to help the cold from numbing his legs. Even through his blue coat, he could feel the cold.

"Pay attention, soldier." Steve scowled "Try shooting one more time," Steve said, holding up his shield as a target for Bucky.

"Wait!" Bucky says, squirming around and shifting his weight from foot to foot.

"What is it now?"

"I have to pee!" Bucky whined. Steve shook his head and slapped his hand over his own face.

"Hurry up." He said. Bucky wasted no time disappearing into the trees.

After about 20 minuets, back hopped back, snow clumped and matted in his hair, freezing it in a spiked position.

"What took you so long!?" Steve said, standing from the large rock he had sat on.

"I saw this little bird and it was bright green and blue and-"

"Bucky, when you're fighting in a war, those Nazis are not gonna stop and wait for you to chase birds and butterflies!" Steve growled harshly. Bucky hung his head and sighed.

"I got distracted!"

"Getting distracted doesn't help you win wars. The Germans-"

"/I'm/ a German!" Bucky screeched at Steve, loudly. "You want to train me to fight in the military and kill my own people!"

Steve stopped and thought about Bucky's point. He's glad that the teenager finally opened up to him, but sometimes Bucky was just an annoying handful. "Well maybe I should have just left you where I found you, dying by the hands of your own people!" Steve snapped back. It was harsh, and the look on Bucky's face made the guilt weigh in like an anchor.

When he'd found Bucky, he had been left for dead after being beaten by his own team.

It takes a heart beat for Bucky to disappear into the large mass of trees and Steve goes running after him, hoping to find him before a hungry bear does.

It four hours later when he finds the teenager under a large pine tree, curled up. There's a layer of snow piled on top of him, and Steve almost didn't see him. He pulled the teen to his feet and winced when he see's Bucky's skin is almost blue.

"Bucky! My god, what were you thinking!?" Steve tried to keep himself from shouting. Bucky's only response was his fist to Steve's jaw.

Steve should've seen it coming. He deserved it.

He drags the boy back to camp to warm him up.

After a long apology, both of them made up. But it wasn't long before Bucky starts to pull at Steve's strings.

The teenager has whined and complained about everything there is to complain about, and now he's pulling apart the wooden cast.

"Will you stop?" Steve'd asked.

"But it's irritating my skin!" Bucky whined. The cast had gotten wet from being in the snow for so long and it was driving Bucky crazy. He'd found that if he pulled hard enough, pieces of the wet wood would start to chip off.

He worked away at the cast, picking and pulling at it while also managing to annoy Steve the whole time.

"Multitasking!" He grinned. Steve rolled his eyes and Bucky had finally decided that playing outside in the snow seemed better than annoying Steve.

And by playing, he'd meant climbing around and dropping snow on as many people as he could, or throwing it at people to make them mad.

It was what he'd considered fun. And as far a he was concerned, he would get away with anything.

He snaked his way out of the tree he was in, only to be caught by someone. And it wasn't Steve.

A few members of the troop were fed up with Bucky's games bad hd decided to trap him. He was held with his arms pinned to his sides and being put in that position triggered horrible memories.

He struggled tighter and kicked and squirmed. "Let me go!" He shouted, wiggling his while body. His captor held him tighter and he screamed loudly as his broken arm was squeezed, too, the cast breaking completely. "Steve!" He called out as loud as his lungs would allow him to.

He wriggled his whole body, forcing his captor the drop him face first in the snow. He stood and swung his fist outwards, his fist meeting skin do hard, it'd hurt his own hand. He turned in his heel and sprinted, running into Steve so hard he almost knocked the super soldier over. He quickly ducked behind Steve, holding onto the blonde's shirt while peering over at the grip of guys who were now laughing at there friend who Bucky'd punched so hard he'd fallen over.

Steve looked from Bucky to the group of guys and shook his head.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hi.


End file.
